The Halloween Visitor
by Monica Moss
Summary: It just so figures that a psychic research company would see activity on Halloween, but in their own office? Gene has taken advantage of the day to get in contact with his younger twin brother. Happy Halloween!


Disclaimer: It's called fanfiction for a reason.

The Halloween Visitor

Halloween. The day of the year when Western spirits seemed to be the most active. Nonsense of course. Experienced ghost hunters like Eugene Davis knew the increased number of hauntings was more psychological than paranormal. But still, the psychological aspect came from a myth, and all myths had their roots somewhere, right? So why hadn't Gene tried to contact his brother on Halloween before? He hadn't tried because he thought there being something special about Halloween was complete hogwash, but, having been in limbo for over a year, he was willing to give it a try.

Would it work? He showed himself to Mai first. She was more likely to see him than his brother. So if she couldn't see him...

"Mai!" he called. She looked startled. Ah, Gene could never get tired of her expressions. They were all so very cute and easy to read!

"Naru! I thought you'd be in your office all day. You were in a foul mood this morning..."

Gene nodded. "Just to let you know, there is something extremely important going on. Please don't disturb." Leaving Mai confused as to why Noll would bother using the word "please" with her, Gene entered his brother's office.

"You had better have a good reason for disturbing me!" his brother snapped, not even looking up.

"Nice to see you too, Noll."

Noll still did not look up. He stayed at his desk for a bit longer before saying, "Well, why are you still..." before finally glaring over toward the door and becoming silent.

Noll sat there and stared – his usual method of dealing with ghosts. Gene had hoped that Noll would be a little friendlier toward _him. _Trying to think of a reason why Noll wouldn't be glad to see him, Gene got the idea that maybe his brother was still upset about his going to Japan and never coming home.

"Noll," Gene said, going toward him. "Can we talk?" Noll remained motionless.

Gene stopped. "Look, Noll! I don't mean you any harm." There was still no change with his brother, so Gene moved closer and put a hand on Noll's shoulder.

Noll's eyes grew wide. "Lin!" he called. "I need to see you in my office for a moment!"

Gene groaned. "Spoilsport! We've been separated for _how long_ now and you have to act as though you're not glad to see me? Come on Noll, I know you're glad to see me really, just admit it!"

Lin came in and looked directly at Gene. An expression of surprise briefly flickered onto his usually stoic face. "A spirit? Here? Naru, what's going on?"

Gene removed his hand from his brother's shoulder and looked back and forth between his brother and his brother's assistant. Both of them were acting as though he were just any other spirit they encountered? Noll, he could somewhat see acting that way because he was still hurting from his death, but Lin?

"Don't you recognize me?" he asked. "It's me, Gene."

"I don't know," Noll said to Lin, "but I want it out of my office."

Gene looked at his brother sadly. "If that's what you really want, Noll... I guess you can't see me as well as I'd hoped. I wish I could talk to you." He then left his brother's office before Lin could do anything to make him leave. He went out into the main office and lay down on the couch.

It only took him a moment to realize that Mai was still around, and was looking at him strangely. Right, she could see him. Maybe she could help. Gene gave her one of his signature smiles. "Hello again, Mai. I trust _you_ can see me just fine?"

Her face, once again, showed her emotions. She was really confused by "Naru's" behavior. "Eh?" she asked. "Naru? Are you alright?"

How funny! But Gene couldn't really blame her; he'd be concerned if his brother suddenly started acting like him too. He felt his smile widen just the slightest bit as he sat up on the couch.

"I'm alright," he replied, "I've just had a bit of a let-down is all. Hey, could you do me a favor?" Gene took Mai's baffled silence as a 'yes' and pointed to his brother's office door. "Could you knock on that door and tell Noll that his brother would like to speak to him?"

Mai stood there looking bewildered. How darling! Gene laughed a little at the look on her face. "Could you knock on Noll's door and tell him his twin would like to speak with him?" he asked again.

"Uh, okay...?" Mai finally complied with his request.

Gene heard Mai deliver the message, and heard his brother ask, "What do you mean my twin would like to speak with me?" It wasn't his brother's usual annoyed tone. It was the tone he used whenever someone presented a case that intrigued him, but not necessarily enough to get him to accept.

"Tell him to get out here!" Gene prompted Mai. "I'm running out of time!"

When Mai had delivered that message, the door opened, and Noll and Lin came out. Noll was looking around, but it didn't seem he recognized Gene.

"Ani?" Noll called. "Where are you?" Finally, he looked at where Gene rested on the couch, and studied him for a moment, expression unreadable. "Mai?" Noll asked. "Can you see him? Is he who he says?"

Mai looked over at Gene, alarmed obvious on her face. It looked to Gene as though she were having a psychic gut instinct, and had a bad feeling that he knew exactly what her instinct was about, especially with the slight paling of her face. Did she know he was dead? He looked at her apologetically for a moment, knowing perfectly well that it was his fault he had never told her anything about being Noll's twin, or about being dead.

His deception aside, Gene still needed her help to speak to his brother. He said softly, lips barely even moving, "Yes, I'm dead, but I would like it very much if I could talk to my brother." If he'd had the need to breathe, he would have held his breath waiting to see what Mai would do.

Mai's hands clenched into fists. "It was you!" she shouted at Gene. "It was you the whole time, wasn't it? In my dreams? You never told me who you were! You let me think you were Naru! I used to think you were kind, but now I find out you were _lying _to me all this time? I'm out of here!" She ran off.

"Idiot," Noll mumbled, watching her leave. "I can't pay her for hours she doesn't work." Gene, also watching her leave, felt a pang of guilt. Yes, she had reason to be angry; he had deceived her. He would have to make it up to her later.

"Gene?" Noll asked, coming to sit by the spirit. "It's really you, isn't it?" Noll ran a hand through his hair. "It's been too long, Gene, and yet, we still can't even speak." He looked at Lin. "Can you do anything to let us speak?"

Lin shook his head. "Not when the spirit is already capable of manifesting himself."

Noll looked at the floor between his feet, a slight frown on his face, and a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I'm going to stay with my brother anyways. Go back to work Lin." Noll said. Then to his brother, "I wish we could talk, Gene."

Gene smiled sadly at his twin – not that Noll could see it. "Perhaps come nightfall..." The Halloween hauntings were supposed to be especially strong after dark, right? Maybe his brother would be able to see and hear him then. But if that was the case, then even as Noll could see and hear him better each moment, then each moment would be closer to the time when he wouldn't be able to see or hear him at all. He'd have to do something about that, like telling him about the mirror. But there was no guarantee that Noll could see or hear him better after dark.

"I don't want to wait to see if we can talk after dark," Gene said, to the brother that still couldn't hear him. "Maybe I can show you the mirror right now?" He stood up, smile on his face at the thought of finally being able to talk to his brother through the mirror. He gestured for Noll to follow him.

"Gene? Where are you going?" Noll, as Gene had hoped, stood up at went after him. Gene, with an even bigger grin on his face, lead his brother into the bathroom and pointed to the mirror.

"It's a mirror," said Noll. "So what?"

Gene then slipped easily into the mirror and said, "Hey, Noll. Can you hear me now?"

Gene spied that elusive pleased look of his brother's as Noll said, "Yes, I can."

"Good." Gene's happiest smile now lit up his face. "I was hoping to talk to you outside the mirror today, but I'm really just happy to be talking to you at all. I've been trying to get a hold of you for a while, without any luck. Listen, Noll, I think I can talk to you through mirrors on a normal day, but you have to be paying attention in order for it to work, okay? I want to talk to you, Noll."

"Mirror, pay attention," Oliver mumbled. "Only an _idiot _would be unable to follow such a simple instruction Gene."

"You mean you will then? I never asked if you could."

Oliver grunted instead of committing either way. "Gene. I have some questions for you..."

* * *

><p>As the day progressed, Gene began to look more and more like himself, and eventually he could even be heard. "C'mon Noll!" he said, for what seemed like the millionth time since his brother could hear his voice. "This might very well be my only day in the physical realm all year! Surely there's something you'd like to do with me!"<p>

"Gene," Noll said, still looking at his map, "It's been too long that you've been on this side. You need to be found and buried so you can move on. Now, are you sure you don't remember anything else that could help us find you?"

"Yes, Noll, I'm sure."

Noll kept studying the map in light of the information he'd gotten from Gene earlier. "Noll..." Gene said again, "There will be plenty of time to look for me when you can't be with me. I think I'm only here for Halloween, and I want to make the most of it! Seriously, which is more important right now?"

Noll crossed something off on his map. "Do you really want to be here one day more than you must?" he asked.

"I'd be happy to trade one extra day of unrest for being able to spend one more day with my brother, y'know, doing something. C'mon Noll, I'm _bored!_"

The bell attached to the office door rang and Monk's voice called out in greeting. Sure, Monk-san wasn't his brother, but he would probably make better company than his brother at the moment. Gene jumped up. "Noll, could I pass as human?"

"What are you planning?"

"Well, since you're more interested in finding me than spending time with me, there's really nothing to do around here. At least Monk-san is someone to talk to, and who knows? Maybe I could give him a little bit of a scare for Halloween."

Noll glared at his brother. "If you'd give me more information on how to find you, _I'd _keep talking to you."

"I already told you, I don't know anything more! I was really lost, Noll!"

Sighing, Noll turned and quickly looked his brother's spirit up and down. He looked as though he were really considering his brother's words. "You could pass for human if you don't do anything _stupid,"_ Noll said. "Do what you want, but don't blame me if Takigawa exorcises you."

With an overly-innocent smile, Gene faded from view. and snuck behind Monk. "Boo!" he shouted.

With a slight gasp, Monk turned around. "Naru? Where are you?" he asked. The only answer Gene gave to the question came in the form of laughter that caused the guy to look around. "Naru? What's gotten into you?"

When Monk's back was to him, Gene let himself be visible again. "I'm right here, Bou-san." Monk turned around to see Gene standing in front of the door with an amused smile that would be very uncharacteristic of his brother on his face. "Happy Halloween," Gene said.

"Who are you and what have you done with Naru?"

"I haven't done anything to him."

Monk raised his voice a bit. "Get out of him and tell me who you are!"

"Get out of him? How am I supposed to do that? I'm not possessing him or anything."

"But if you're not possessing him," Monk asked, "then why do you look just like him?"

"I'm his twin. I came to visit for Halloween, but he's been ignoring me ever since I told him that I don't know where to find the thing he's looking for." Gene shook his head. "He doesn't have time for family anymore."

Monk gave him a look that told him he wasn't buying it.

"Lin can vouch for me."

Testing the claim, Monk called, "Lin?"

"Lin!" Gene called. "Please tell him who I am! He thinks I'm possessing my brother."

"Naru's twin came to visit," Lin called to Monk, and then was silent.

Monk turned and looked at Gene skeptically a few moments longer, then ran a hand through his hair. "Halloween, huh? You mean that Western holiday?"

"Yes."

"So what's that about precisely?"

Gene shrugged. "No one's quite sure how it got started, but we celebrate by putting on costumes. Kids go around asking for candy, and everyone else just tries to scare each other, but Noll doesn't want to do anything for it."

"That's a weird sort of holiday."

"Yeah, but it's fun. This year, I'm a ghost for Halloween."

Monk gave no sign that he took that Gene was a ghost for Halloween to be anything but the costumes he'd mentioned.

Midnight ticked ever nearer.


End file.
